Because of the popularity of decaffeinated coffee, it is common in restaurants to have two pots or pitchers available for customers, one containing regular coffee and the other decaffeinated coffee. Portable coffee pots have been proposed for use in restaurants and cafeterias for dispensing two beverages, but previous dispensers have been complicated in construction and difficult to fill or keep clean, or are difficult to operate because they require an awkward movement of the thumb or finger to dispense beverages selectively. Some of these containers have a very small top opening, making them difficult to fill and clean. Others do not allow two beverages to be heated to the same degree when the container is placed on a hot plate.
In view of these and other deficiencies of the prior art, it is one object to eliminate operating rods or other moving parts previously provided in some dispensing containers within the portion of the container that holds liquid where the moving parts are exposed to the contents of the container. In a coffee dispenser, the presence of moving parts in contact with the coffee is regarded by some as a potential sanitation problem.
Another object is to eliminate operating rods and valves that are exposed to view inside the container when the cover of the container is removed or the need to have for operating levers in the handle of the container.
A more specific object is to provide a dispensing container for both regular and decaffeinated coffee in which both operating levers and valves are contained entirely within the cover.
A further object is to provide a dispensing container for two beverages in which the vessel itself is simply constructed with clean lines and smooth surfaces that can be readily cleaned and in which the entire container can be washed in a standard dishwasher.
Yet a further object is to provide a portable container and dispenser for two beverages, such as regular and decaffeinated coffee, that has a wide open top to facilitate easy filling and that does not have to be disassembled to be filled.
It is another important object of the invention to allow the dispensing of two different beverages by two separate selectively operable dispensing levers that are easy to operate with the thumb, viz. in one form of the invention with a simple grasping or gripping movement of the thumb wherein the thumb is moved downwardly toward the center of the hand in a natural way.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the present invention will be apparent in view of the following description setting forth by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention that will be apparent to those skilled in the art once the principles described herein are understood.